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Toonami
Toonami (a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami") is one of Cartoon Network's brands, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American and Japanese cartoons, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997, ending on September 20, 2008, and returning on May 26, 2012 as part of swim after their April Fools stunt. The Toonami brand name was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the name of an action-oriented animation channel replacing a former Cartoon Network owned channel CNX, which had been a Toonami/live-action hybrid network. It has been hosted by two CGI hosts. Overview In September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Event|Total Immersion Events or TIEs. These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com, and always occurred the week that the block's most popular series, Dragon Ball Z, returned for a new season. The very first TIE was The Intruder, which introduced TOM's companion, an AI matrix known as SARA, who played an integral part in the rebirth of TOM, upgraded from a short Bomberman-esque character (voiced by Sonny Strait) to a taller, stronger, darker, deeper-voiced incarnation temporarily dubbed as TOM 2.0 (voiced by Steven Blum), though it was the same TOM who still hosted the block. Dragon Ball Z aired in 1998 when Cartoon Network would air one episode of the FUNimation Dub every weekday during its popular Toonami time slot (specifically, 5 p.m. Eastern Time). The ''Dragon Ball'' TV series was released on 12 June 2001, with episodes 14-16 (picking up where their old 1995 dub left off). However, even the first 13 episodes were re-dubbed, and were aired as a part of a 28 episode test season, beginning on Cartoon Network in August of 2001. Apparently, the show was enough of a hit to continue production. The second season (episodes 29-53) aired in the spring of 2002, and a third season (episodes 54-101) was shown that fall (and later re-run outside of Toonami on Saturday nights). The fourth (and final) season (episodes 102-153) was shown during the fall of 2003. Dragon Ball GT began airing on TV in the US on Cartoon Network with the "first" volume of DBGT in America started with a "Bonus Introduction" to the beginning of the series, and then moves on to episodes 17-19. FUNimation skipped the first 16 episodes of the series, and instead created an additional "flashback" episode (which is English-only) that retells the events of these first 16 episodes, and Dragon Ball had completed its TV run from beginning to end. Unfortunately, DBGT's Cartoon Network run mimicked the DVD release, starting from FUNimation's English-only recap episode. Cartoon Network immediately began repeating the series from its "true" beginning upon its first run-through, however. On Saturday September 20, 2008, Cartoon Network canceled the block and aired its final transmission. Employees who worked on the block moved to other parts of the channel. At the end of Toonami's final airing, the host, voiced by Steven Blum, ended the block with a final monologue simply reading: Anime was mostly handled by Adult Swim, and a new block "CN Real" replaced Toonami on Saturday nights afterward. Toonami Jetstream remained with the Toonami name until January 30, 2009. On May 16, 2012, on Adult Swim's twitter, they announced Toonami will return on May 26, 2012. The network issued a press release later that day confirming the block's revival as a Saturday late night anime block. The 2012 schedule is reported to be secret until May 26, 2012. Meanwhile differing and incomplete program lists have appeared on the Adult Swim website and in other TV programming schedules for this new block. New shows listed for the block include Casshern Sins and Deadman Wonderland. However, Nicktoons holds the rights of Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball GT as of now. Hosts Toonami had two notable hosts: Moltar and TOM. Moltar was the first and lesser-known, only hosting from March 17, 1997 until July 10, 1999. He was the animated director of a former original Cartoon Network series, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, who had sent an observer robot titled Clyde 49 to Earth to study the planet. TOM (Toonami Operations Module), was introduced under his v.1 state (voiced by Sonny Strait), on July 10, 1999. He was a small, wise-cracking robot who controlled the signal aboard the ship Absolution. During September of the same year, he would be joined by the AI program SARA, and custodial robots named Clydes (their name being an homage to Clyde 49). On September 18, 2000, Toonami aired The Intuder, its first Total Immersion Event (TIE), a special interactive event that took place both on-air and online. The Intruder lasted for eight episodes and culminated on September 27, 2000, with TOM and Sara successfully ejecting the titular Intruder from the Absolution, but at the cost of TOM and the Clydes being killed during the assault. Despite this, TOM's consciousness was transferred into an upgraded body, now voiced by Steve Blum, and was joined by newly upgraded Clydes prior to the final battle with the Intruder. TOM v.2 would be seen from 1999 until March 17, 2003. On April 17, 2004, SARA was given a humanoid hologram body, and the new generation of Clydes, now Clyde 53, were introduced. From March 17, 2003 to March 17, 2007, TOM v.3 was shown, with his origins being explained in the Endgame TIE and online comic. This body was similar to his previous state, however was more muscular and taller, with a smaller head. This version of TOM now introduced a new look to the block, and slight redesign to the Absolution ship. A polished design of this TOM is used for the Adult Swim revival. On the tenth anniversary of Toonami (March 17, 2007), the block was given a complete redesign, with TOM debuting a new organic look, SARA being replaced with new robots called Two. Flash, Spike, and the setting of the show was moved from space to a jungle area on a rocky planet. The origins of TOM v.4 are unknown, but the overhauled design received highly negative feedback from fans. ''Dragon Ball Z'' Promos and Intros Toonami was very famous for its promos, which showcased upcoming episodes. The Dragon Ball Z promos were particularly loved, and many have been uploaded to YouTube and other internet sites. The first promos were voiced by Moltar, who was the host at the time, but when TOM took over, most were voiced by Peter Cullen (who is most famous for the voice of Optimus Prime) and on occasion TOM himself. Earlier promos on the network for the first three Dragon Ball Z movies had been voiced by Don LaFontaine, whose voice was heard on thousands of movie trailers up until his death in 2008. Gallery TOONAMI logo 3.png|The Toonami logo from 2003-2005 Toonami2007logo.jpg|The Toonami logo from 2007 Toonami ANN.jpg|Toonami logo Toonamipic.png|TOM next to the logo used from 2005-2007, and on Adult Swim Toonami lockdown.jpg|The Toonami Lockdown logo Hqdefault Toonami.jpg|A Toonami bumper on April 1st, 2012 Toonami promo2.png Toonami 5645349.jpg|TOM Toonami-Adult-Swim Ad.jpg|An advertisement for the revival of Toonami External links *Toonami on Adult Swim *Toonami at Archive Wayback Category:Dragon Ball media Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball GT